Table 1.
Characteristics of Included Studies, by Year of Publication – Case-Control Studies (N = 6)
| First author, publication year | Years of study | Location of study | Exclusion criteria | Cases | Controls | Age | Endpoint categorya | Specific endpoint | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHD | CV A |
CVD | ||||||||
| Beard 1984 [23] |
1960–1974 | Rochester, Minnesota, USA | Unmarried women. | 169, hospital admissions | 338 age-matched (3y), seen at same clinic in same year as diagnosis for matched case, no prior CVD diagnosis | < 60 | C | Incident cases of CHD (angina, myocardial infarction, sudden unexpected death) | ||
| La Vecchia 1987 [31] |
1983–1986 | Northern Italy | Women with recurrent infarction or uncertain diagnostic criteria. | 202, hospital admissions | 374, under age 55 admitted to same hospital with acute disease other than CVD, malignant, metabolic, hormonal or gynecologic (and not related to smoking/alcohol) | < 55 y, median age 47 (cases) 45 (controls: 24–54) | C | First time myocardial infarction | ||
| Talbott 1989 [37] |
1973–1975 | Pennsylvania, USA | Never married, no living relatives, prior history of CVD | 67 cases (death records in one county) | 73 neighborhood controls, alive, within 10 years age match, Caucasian. | 25–64, mean age 54.6 (cases) 43.4 (controls) | M | Sudden cardiac death | ||
| Palmer 1992 [34] |
1986–1990 | Massachusetts, USA | Controls: people without phone-listing excluded (27%). | 858, hospital admissions | 858 controls from registry, 5 years age range, same precinct of residence. | 45–69, mean age 60 | E | First time, non-fatal myocardial infarction | ||
| Okamoto 2001 [33] |
1992–1997 | Nagoya, Japan | Aged ≥80 or <30 | 124 consecutive cases | 248 age-matched (2 y) controls, one hospital (patients with gastro-intestinal disease) and one community control per case. | 30–79, mean age 60 (cases) and 60.3 (controls) | C | First time subarachnoid hemorrhage | ||
| Bertuccio 2007 [24] |
3 studies: 1983–1992 1988–1989 1995–2003 | Italy | None mentioned | 609, in hospital | 1106 (in hospital for acute diseases unrelated to smoking and other recognized myocardial infarction risk factors) | 18–79, median age 56 y (cases) 53 y (controls) | E | First time myocardial infarction | ||
aThis column provides an overview of study endpoint category (coronary heart disease (CHD), cerebrovascular disease (CVA), cardiovascular disease (CVD)) and whether it concerns events (E), mortality (M) or a combination (C) of events and mortality